Small Earthquake at Santa Barbara Rattles Wide Area
Residents of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were jolted awake by a 3.9 magnitude earthquake and a 2.7 aftershock Wednesday, prompting worried calls to police. There were no reports of injury or damage, officials said.
The first shock hit at 12:42 a.m. and was centered 11 miles southeast of downtown Santa Barbara, said Robert Finn, spokesman for the seismology lab at Caltech in Pasadena. Fifteen minutes later the aftershock struck.
The temblors were felt in nearby Goleta and Isla Vista, and also in Carpinteria, Ojai, Ventura and Oxnard, Finn said.
“These quakes weren’t strong enough to do much damage, but a lot of people felt them,” Finn said.
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